Pirates of the Burning Sea Date, New Features

At today's opening of the Penny Arcade Expo, Flying Lab Software unveiled the addition of avatar combat to its MMORPG Pirates of the Burning Sea. The studio also gave the title an ETA of June 2007.

Flying Lab hopes the addition of avatar combat to Pirates of the Burning Sea will amplify the need for strategy and skill, offering melee encounters where movement, position, and tactics truly matter. The new feature expands sea encounters as well, allowing players to board enemy ships, and, with the aid of their crew, battle their opposition for supremacy and seize the enemy's ship and cargo.

By the time the game releases in June 2007, it will have been in development for almost five years and in beta testing for a year and a half. Flying Lab is currently accepting beta applicants at the game's website. For those who can't wait, check out some new screens of avatar combat.